The completion of Q2 allows an opportunity to reflect on recent activity from Luxury Hotels Group (LHG) and a glimpse ahead to developments over the coming months.
The London headquarters of the group continues to expand and will be led by Bernadette Koltai and Vivek Thadhani. Bernadette joins the growing team as Vice President and brings great strengths to WHM Global in the form of global sales and strong leadership. Vivek has been appointed as Vice President Sales and Marketing within the group. Bernadette joins from Pegasus Solutions where she was Global head of sales for EMEA.

April saw the launch of the Luxury Hotels Group Middle East head office in Dubai which enables additional support, specialized local marketing intelligence, quality service and direct relationships at a local level in the fast growing Middle East hospitality sector. The team, headed by experienced professional Sarah Marron, will be “best placed to help operators navigate and increase business from this healthy source market”. Marron continued; “this market is ready for a luxury hotel representation and marketing company which is dedicated to the region”.
Alongside the New Delhi office launched in January 2014 and London head office in November 2013, the Dubai office opening marks the next stage in the growth of Luxury Hotels Group.
The Arabian Travel Market was held from 5-8th May 2014 and Luxury Hotels Group were amongst the exhibitors showcasing their presence and abilities to the regional travel trade at last month’s event. The 4-day event attracted over 2,700 exhibitors from over 60 countries and placed the evolving dynamics of the luxury segment at the centre of the event. A seminar dedicated to the topic was held on the second day of the event with a panel of experts agreeing that the high number of millionaires in the region has created a tiered set of expectations when it comes to all things luxury according to eturbonews.com.

Within less than a year of operations, Luxury Hotels Group now has 146 member hotels in the collection. Members include some of the finest luxury and boutique hotels in the world; ME London, Rosewood London, The Glasshouse Edinburgh, The Royal Crescent Bath, El Minzah Morocco, Carlton on the Grand Canal Venice, Corinthia St Georges Bay Malta, Cape Royal Hotel and Spa South Africa, Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois Switzerland and many more.

Also taking place in May at The Montcalm Hotel London was the Boutique and Lifestyle Summit 2014. Hosted at a Luxury Hotels Group member hotel, the collection were proud gold sponsors of the event which was organized by Boutique Hotel Media. Luxury Hotels Group was amongst the speakers and commented on the use of social media within the sector warning that the platform needs to be used in the right way. Luxury Hotels Group also reiterated the importance of using Social Media in the correct manner – “too many hotels use social media to broadcast, not to interact”, according to a review of the event by BigHospitality.
As the summer continues, the future looks positive for Luxury Hotels Group whose growing members benefit from website listing, inclusion in the directory, use of private label GDS as well as bespoke marketing packages created to support the independent objectives of the hotel.